BY SEÁN P. FEENY
ANOTHER Donegal band vying for things is about to officially launch its first EP choosing the Greenroom Live at Voodoo, Letterkenny to mark the occasion.
On Friday, July 27, TeddyBallet, the winners of An Grianán Theatre Letterkenny’s Live & Kicking competition, will release their very first EP, Free Yourself, featuring five original tracks that were over a year in the making.
The band has gone throw some changes since its first inception it was the final line-up that spent the past year recording and producing the EP.
The band features Nigel Hegarty (22) on Lead Vocal/Guitar and Paul McGuinness (24) on Lead Guitar/Backing Vocal (both from Letterkenny), Conor ‘Wally’ McErlean (23) on Bass/Backing Vocal from Newtowncunningham and Gleneely’s Mike Warren on Drums.
Nigel and Paul are full-time musicians and trying their best to network and reach the band out all over. “Promotion for us across the internet is essential, it’s very hard for a band to make it these days, best we can do is keep sending it out to as many people as possible and hope that somewhere along the line, someone likes it enough to give us a gig or to send it on to others, or indeed to simply make a fan or two out of it.
“Wally is back in college in Dublin in September, but will be home to play and record at weekends. Paul will be working from September onwards in the Music Academy in Letterkenny, but currently is full time with myself and Mike,” said Nigel.
In December 2010 the band first decided to start recording their bassist at the time decided he couldn’t commit to the band any more and moved on.
Nigel said: “So we started the EP as a 3 piece, recording the bass ourselves to the tracks.
“It got to the point where we were suffering without the fourth member and in April 2011 Owen McDaid came in to play bass for us.
“He played bass on the recording of Scentless Marshmallow which was recorded with Mark Black in August of that year. which we got as a prize for winning the Live and Kicking competition at Grianan Theatre that summer.”
After the EP launch, TeddyBallet hope to take it all round on a small tour as such.Nigel said: “There’s nothing set in stone yet, but we’re in a working relationship as such with the band who are coming to support us for the launch of the EP, We The People’from Waterford, a cracking band who are putting a good name out for themselves and we’d hope to get back down there and have a few gigs along with them, possibly hitting the likes of Dublin, Galway, Athlone, Derry and places such as that.”
Aside from that, TeddyBallet are still writing new songs and hope to start recording their album in September of this year. “Alike the EP Free Yourself it will be 100 per cent self produced, we do all our own recording and editing.
“We simply cannot afford the costs of recording an album in a studio, and while we’re able to record our own stuff, we may as well make use of it.
“While it may not be perfect, it’s something we did ourselves and can be proud of at the end of it all.
“We could go off and record in a studio, but this way, we can do everything in our own time, not feel rushed into making a mess of things, and if something happens that we don’t like, we can go back to it and rectify it. We’re not sure how long it will take, but that’s the beauty of it, you just take it as it comes and enjoy doing it,” said Nigel.
TeddyBallet will launch Free Yourself with support from We The People from Waterford, Cuban Science from Donegal Town and Letterkenny based Dundalk native Darren Roddy who also did the Graphic Design and Artwork on the EP.
Entry on the night will be only €5 with a free Scentless Marshmallow single (the first single from the EP). Free Yourself is free to download from the website with an optional donation, so give plenty!!